Hi! Um, yeah. I didn’t post yesterday, did I? But hey! I’m posting now – doesn’t that count? And… you look really pretty today! So… Moving on.
Yesterday on Fox 9’s Morning Buzz, Alix and Jason and I discussed donating to charities. In particular, how to get the biggest bang for your donation’s buck. Below is the actual research given to our producer and turned into the astounding, death-defying segment we performed yesterday. And no, we didn’t use a net.
How To Give So It Doesn’t Hurt
1. Donate time instead of money. In other words, volunteer.
Pick an organization you truly care about, or a cause close to your heart. Example – the school your children attend. Schools are understaffed and there is a constant need for volunteers. Or, if you or someone close to you is suffering from an illness, donate your time and energy to that nonprofit. Example – I have Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, ergo I tend to volunteer for the Arthritis Foundation.
Pick an activity you’ll enjoy. You’ll do more if you like what you’re doing. Example – is wrapping gifts your bag, baby? Donate your time to a Ronald McDonald house wrapping Christmas presents this year.
Go in a group. And it doesn’t just have to be a work group. Instead, gather together a group of friends and volunteer. My buds and I have done the MS Walk several times in a group, and we look forward to the chance to get fresh air, exercise and catch up on each other’s lives. All while earning money for a good cause.
Need help finding volunteer opportunities? Check out VolunteerMatch.org to see where you can help out in your neighborhood. Or join Single Volunteers of the Twin Cities – www.svtconline.org – and make new single friends while volunteering in our community.
2. If you do donate money, make sure you’ll get the biggest bang for your buck. According to Forbes.com, look at the charity’s Charitable Commitment – the percentage showing how much total expense goes directly to the charitable purpose, as opposed to management, overhead and fundraising. Low scores are percentages below 70% and the best are 100%.
Also look at their Fundraising Efficiency. This shows the amount of contributions left after subtracting the cost of getting those contributions. Forbes recommends scrutinizing any nonprofit with a Fundraising Efficiency percentage below 70%.
Top Five Charities, as gathered from Forbes.com. All have 100% scores in Charitable Commitment and Fundraising Efficiency:
Brother’s Brother Foundation. http://www.brothersbrother.org/ Their mission is to promote international health and education through the efficient and effective distribution and provision of donated medical, educational, agricultural and other resources.
Children’s Network International. Go to http://www.icnchildren.net/ to sponsor a child.
Gifts in Kind International. http://www.giftsinkind.org/ Dedicated to helping people and communities by distributing corporate product donations to qualified nonprofit organizations.
Heart to Heart Foundation. http://www.hearttoheart.org/ Improving global health through humanitarian initiatives that connect people and resources to a world in need.
Operation Compassion. http://www.operationcompassion.org/ Helps with disaster relief around the world.
Here are two more sites that can help you pick the best charity for your money: www.charitynavigator.org and www.charitywatch.org, sponsored by the American Institute of Philanthropy.
3. You can donate your stuff, too. Such as your like-new prom dresses to Operation Glass Slipper, business clothes to Dress For Success, your old car to technical colleges, and cell phones to the Battered Women’s Legal Advocacy Project. So, before you throw something away, double check on line to see if you can donate it, first.
Okay! There’s the post and all is forgiven, right? You still look really pretty…
2 Comments
I found a frugal cause to help is kiva.org – they help people get on their feet starting buisnesses etc and split the loans up into 25$ packages – you loan someone a 25$ parcel and over time they pay it back .It’s both helping people get out of poverty and you get your money back to help someone else later on.
Can you embed links into the things you put in bold? It would be nice to be able to click through to a charity (or store, whatever) when you talk about it to get more info.